I think I've lost my last bin of the compost pile. And the monster is trying to take over the next one too. I just can't bear to cut it back though. I keep thinking I should grow a squash up the compost pile, but the volunteer morning glories make me smile too much to rip them out.
I always wonder what neighbor gave me the seed for these. The seed came, I'm sure, in the leaves I pick up from the curbs in the fall. They grew last year and came back this year.
Well enough of flowers, this post is really supposed to be about what I've been doing the last couple of days. Monday I got out and chopped down most of the corn stalks in this patch. This was so I could find the small ears that were left. A lot of the ears in this part of the patch were small. Since they had to be resowed so many times, the squash plants had time to overtake the corn before it got big enough. The corn struggled to get tall enough for sun. Most did, but the ears are tiny. Tasty but tiny. All the stalks got chopped up and tossed on the compost.
I chopped most of the basil down. This is the after photo. I know it still looks like you could pick from it, but it got a very server haircut so it would keep growing.
I wanted to take out all the bush beans and most of the pole beans. The Kentucky Wonder was dying and the Trail of Tears were done drying out their pods. There were not more flowers on the plants. Some years they do a second flush, but they didn't have time this year. I found the bush beans had put out a second flush of flowers and had set pods. None were dry yet. So the bush beans got a reprieve.
This is the after photo. I left my Tarbais Alaric beans to grow on. They are very late beans. They have set their pods but only a few pods were dry. They will dry in September then I can take them down. I was going to put in a cover crop, but since most of the beans are still in the bed, I left it.
Since I had extra time this morning I spent it cleaning up one of the squash patches. Powdery mildew was taking over and there were a lot of dead leaves. I cleaned it up and reclaimed my path. I've done a bit of path reclaiming over the last couple of days. The squash and the sweet potatoes really like to take over if they are given half a chance.
I spotted two butternut squashes!! Mine are still in the basement from last year's harvest. My family hasn't taken a liking to that (:
ReplyDeletewow looks like you have been very busy!
ReplyDeleteI'm also cleaning up the garden and.... I planted a few things in the last few weeks: carrots, kale, onions, beets, dill, peas, and mustard greens and tried your method of covering with burlap to keep cool/moist and everything except onions have germinated, so,,my "gardening-learning-curve" is still on the up-swing!! From everything I've read, I need to protect some of these veggies from flea beetles. Now, my question is about tubing for holding row covers.
ReplyDeleteThe following info is from your NOV 22, 2010 post::
"....I bought 20 pieces of 18" rebar and two rolls of tubing. I pounded all the rebar into the ground so when it is spring time and I want to defrost the soil, the stakes to hold up the piping will already be up...."
I know what rebar is but what kind of tubing do I look for?
In the past, I've used 10' PVC hoops but they require too much row cover.
I can't say we have morning glory growing in our compost bin. Beautiful! But in other matters we're much the same. We cut pulled our corn up this week too. Our basil was pruned back a lot, and we have one squash plant and several sweet potato plants that are trying to take over the entire garden!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. It makes me feel like I'm not to far off the mark!
We love morning glory. Them and sun flowers are the only volunteers we usually let grown in our yard. In fact we haven't had to buy seed for morning glory in about 4 years! We have let it take over two our our former annual beds, free flowers and they keep the weeds down!!
ReplyDeleteIt does seem to be that time! I'm sure you're making great progress. Lovely, lovely basil. Makes me a little jealous.
ReplyDeleteThose morning glories are beautiful... I would be leaving them too. I have a Stupice tomato happily growing in the middle compost pile. It was a sickly start that I tossed rather than plant in the garden, and it settled in and made the compost pile it's home. It is loaded with fruit and looks very healthy, so I just make sure to water it occassionally and leave it alone to do it's thing.
ReplyDelete